Thursday Morning in Ankara

Well, jet lag is hitting both of us pretty hard. Some of it has to do with starting off the trip a bit sick.  Lots of people at Feathered Pipe came down with very similar  cough, congestion sorts of conditions. Then travel and then it seems pretty smoggy.  I've been using turbo blaster instead of the neti pot.  But anyway,  I digress.  Luckily,  I am  starting to feel better.

Yesterday, we  did manage to make it over to Anit Kabir  I am pictured at it.  According to Wikipedia,  "it  is a mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey."   It was really hot  yesterday and even hotter with all that marble reflecting the sunlight.  Last night, we ventured out of our immediate neighborhood and went to a lovely Greek place called Laterna. All the waiters wore t-shirts  "OUZO- connecting people."  The drink of  choice in Turkey, however is not OUZO,  is a similar beverage  called  Raki.  It also seems to connect people.  Out of about 20 tables, Jeff and I were the only table who did not order a bottle of Raki.  Anyway, the food was  great.  Jeff had  shrimp saganaki and  I had a meze platter. 

Today, there is  a bit of  cloud cover and so we walked around a bit this morning (pictures posted on facebook)  and  will probably go to the pool and sun deck and  are hoping to be fully recovered by tomorrow.  The driver will pick us up very early and take us  to  Hattusa,   then Saturday morning we leave for Cappadocia